Spangas

One of the things I craved when I was young was to see images of gay people in the media that I could relate to. Yes it was a different world back then. (Little Gypsy Gay was about as gay it got, and that's in name only.) Except for the homos of the raunchy evening soap Number 96 that is, but I couldn't particularly relate to them either. When I was a young teen I can't think of many other gay images, positive or negative.

Anyhoo. It certainly is a different world, and in some corners of this world it's even more different. The Dutch have a reputation for being progressive, and the pro-diversity teen drama Spangas (official website - in Dutch) certainly enhances that rep in relation to gay youngsters.

Flip and Tobias are identical twin high school students. Flip is gay, and Tobias is straight. Flip has a crush on Tobias's best friend Koen, which turns out to be reciprocated. Flip and Koen start dating, and although Koen at first wants to keep it secret it isn't long before they out themselves to all as a couple. The only negativity seems to come from Tobias, not because he really has a problem with gay people but because he's jealous.

This first clip is really just setting the scene, introducing the fact that Koen is receptive to Flip's crush.

The show is on 5 times a week and youtube user (and blogger) gaydaytime has been posting clips with subtitles daily. What is interesting is that the show is produced by a Christian station, and I gather a rather progressive one at that.

To quote The Gays Of Daytime blog:

Meet the students and teachers of Spangalis, the Zubaran of the Lowlands. This show is on 5 times a week on NEDERLAND 3. I won't go into the complicated ways Dutch public television is organized - suffice it to say, there are several broadcast groups that get allotted time on three networks and each group represents a segment of society. There's a traditional 'workers' broadcaster, one for Catholics and SPANGAS is broacasted by NCRV which stands for 'Dutch Christian Radio Organization', which is also the oldest public broadcaster in the Netherlands.

But still, NCRV is diverse and allows a gay storyline in this show. Meet Flip and Koen. Thing will get complicated, I'm sure, because Flip also has a twin brother called Tobias. Let's see where this will take us...

Pretty cool huh? The young actors, especially the boys playing Flip and Koen, do a nice job. It's most definitely a teen drama with all the small crises that entails. Plus, at times I find the sound of Dutch oddly amusing, with all the aaaaaaargh and glottal sounds it makes me think of a bunch of pirates clearing their throats.

[More clips and info at the Gays Of Daytime blog, and all his Spangas posts are here.]